I'll Get It Right Someday
by soulofair
Summary: The Doctor and River get domestic. Written pre S6, so any spoilers are minor, and the story is slightly AU. I do not own the rights to Doctor Who or any of the characters. Cross-posted to my LJ same username


The Doctor had never been terribly good at these sorts of things. Domestic was never a word that was synonymous with his personality. So, when he started straying from his normal course of things and became more and more domestic, he wasn't sure how to cope with it.

It was a miracle that he'd managed to convince River to stay with him longer than a matter of days. She had agreed to stay with him, but for how long was uncertain. The Doctor knew it had to be a matter of months or years, but in the end, it always seemed like she was with him for only a fleeting moment.

It was odd that she had stayed as long as she had. She was like a butterfly, never content to stay in one place for long. She longed for the adventures that the Doctor brought to her life, but was never satisfied with the commitment he was willing to give her.

About two months after River became a full-time resident of the TARDIS, she caught him while he was shaving his face in the sink in their shared bathroom. "Doctor," she murmured as she ran her hands over his bare back.

He hummed in reply as he carefully scraped away stubble along his jawbone. She sucked in a breath and held it. She hesitated before exhaling into his back. "I'm pregnant," she finally breathed into his ear.

The Doctor paused, his razor held aloft with excess shaving cream dangerously sliding off of the blade. "I'm sorry?" he half asked, half stated.

"About six weeks now… the TARDIS ran some scans. She's processing them now."

"I'm sorry?" he asked, completely this time.

"You and I made a child. Said child is now growing inside me."

"But that's impossible."

"And yet, it's happened. So, not completely impossible."

The Doctor realized why River might have been content to stay with him. He suspected that she had known that she was pregnant and was just holding on to every possible moment she could, for the sake of her sanity and for the sake of their unborn child. Not that he was opposed to River sticking around or anything; he just thought it was odd that he didn't realize it sooner.

Of course, he would never ask River if this was the reason that she stayed; he knew it was the reason she stayed when she made no move to leave him or the TARDIS. She was there to stay, and he was thrilled.

For the first time in their lives together, they were on the same time stream. They were in sync, somehow linear. The months passed, and the Doctor became more and more engrossed in the times they had together. He was going to ask her to marry him; ask her to become his on every single planet in the universe. He was going to build her a house if the TARDIS wasn't homey enough for them. He was going to be everything and anything for this magnificent creature that had become a security blanket and the closest thing to family to the Doctor. But, there was always that niggling feeling that had settled in his hearts that told him that it wasn't going to last.

As River and the Doctor lay in the oversized hammock that hung between two old, stately Humlus trees that guarded the large fields beyond the cottage they had found and settled in (if you could call what they did "settling in"), they deliberated over the life that their unborn child had yet to embark upon. "She'll have to study on Messaline. They have the best primary education system in the universe," River told the Doctor as she weaved her fingers through his hair.

"We'll have to show her where Jenny is," the Doctor murmured quietly as he stared up at the tree. He was referring to where he presumed they laid Jenny to rest.

And every day, the Doctor wondered when River would leave him. And everyday, he would promise himself that he would get a ring on River's finger, as a way of honoring her parents and the sanctity of the life they now led. Rory the Roman was quite the swordsman and Amelia Pond, the girl who waited was a force to be reckoned with. The Doctor thought it was best to avoid angering the duo.

He was terrible with these sorts of things. He hadn't managed to get a ring on her finger when it came time for the baby to come. He'd been promising himself that he'd do that, but there just wasn't enough time; odd coming from someone who could make all the time in the world.

But when River nudged him awake, he sat up with a start and just knew that it was time. She didn't have to utter a single word; he just knew.

Nearly an eternity later, when the little bundle was handed over to the Doctor by the midwife, he realized he was forever receiving forgiveness from the universe. Although the forgiveness he always received was atypical and sometimes covert, the beautiful little girl he cradled in his arms was the most blatant form of forgiveness he had been blessed with. She appeared to have River's eyes and his nose; her lips and his hearts.

He glanced up at River, who watched him with solemn eyes. They both knew the value of the child that they held between them. River could no longer protect the little girl as she had for nine months prior; it was now on the shoulders of the Doctor and all of those who stood with him, his non-militant militia, to ensure that the child see to her potential.

"She will never be a weapon."

"You can't always be sure," the Doctor answered quietly, his voice filled with bittersweet undertones.

He was reminded of when he first held Melody Pond. The day seemed so long ago, but in his time stream, it was only a matter of two years. To River, it had been a lifetime ago, but here they were. The Doctor gazed down at what the universe had given to him, knowing full well that he would stop at nothing to make sure that nothing would lay a finger on this beautiful little girl, exactly the same as when he had done this with Melody.

Two days after the baby was born, they brought her home. They'd spent hours wondering if they should bring her home to the cottage or jump into the wonderful adventures they built their lives out of. But, after an incident on the TARDIS involving the TARDIS getting mad at the Doctor and hiding the nursery, the Doctor and River thought it was best that they set up residence at River's cottage.

And here they lived, fairly uneventfully, for two years. Their daughter, who had River's unruly hair and the Doctor's goofy grin, was busy getting into all sort of trouble now that she was able to walk. Adriela, their little ball of energy, was becoming more and more like the Doctor in terms of personality, but more and more like River in regards to appearance. Both her parents knew that this was a bad combination and they prayed for those who had yet to encounter their daughter.

It was a beautiful summer afternoon when River came into the kitchen, Adriela propped on her hip. "I got the job," she told the Doctor as she set Adriela in her high chair.

The Doctor glanced up from his dismantled gadget, just knowing that what she was about to tell him was not good. His entire body stiffened and he sucked in a breath. "Where?" he asked, trying to hide his fear behind a poker face.

He had never been good at poker, but River seemed not to notice his concern. "The Library. I leave in a week. I have so much to prepare for!" River cried out as she started scribbling down notes on her communicator.

"The Library? Wow. It's been ages since I've been there," he murmured absently.

River glanced up at him. "You've been?"

He realized he had said that out loud. "Ah… yes… long time ago though." His answer seemed to appease River, so she went back to making her list.

The Doctor knew that he couldn't mess with the time stream now. He hadn't any idea what he might jeopardize by trying to persuade her not to go. This was it; this was his tenth incarnation would watch her die. His start was her end, but now, it was his end too. He had yet to meet River in her timeline, so he had that to look forward to, but he hadn't the slightest idea how to raise Adriela on his own, or what he would tell her parents. So, for this reason, the Doctor decided it was time that he set a few things right.

He got the ring. He got the Ponds to their home, and he proposed to and married River all in the same evening. He made sure everything was perfect; it was their last night in the life as they knew it. Later on that evening, when Amy and Rory had been taken home, the Doctor put Adriela to bed in her room on the TARDIS, and took River to the Singing Towers. Before landing however, he slipped away to go retrieve the screwdriver he had the TARDIS craft for this very purpose.

"Sweetie, what are you doing?" River asked as the Doctor carried her, bridal style, to a blanket he had laid out for them, just outside of the TARDIS. "You've been acting strange lately."

"I've always wanted to come here, and this is supposedly one of the best times to come," he explained as he wrapped himself around her.

That evening, they shared an entire bottle of the finest wine in the entire universe and spoke about anything and virtually everything they could possibly imagine. They shared a rather intimate moment as the Towers sang though one of the most beautiful concerts either person had ever heard, at which time, the Doctor imparted the determining factor that had made him trust her all those years before, in the Library.

A few days later, River kissed the Doctor goodbye. It was an early morning, and the Doctor found it quite difficult to not grip her arm tightly and beg her not to leave. It was against the rules, and the Doctor knew that, so he refrained. He knew he would regret it later.

When he received a message on the psychic paper reading: "You've lived our entire time together knowing I would die like this, and you've never let on. You've always known. Why did you let me leave? It must have been important that this happened, but even so… why did you let me leave? I love you, I love Adriela, and I am so sorry, my love. I have nothing more to say, except for goodbye, and I'm sorry that my end was our start. We really have lived our lives backward. All my love, and forever yours, River."

And with that, the Doctor knew it was done.


End file.
